Race and Ethnicity

Definition and Application

Physical markers are used to distinguish groups and create create inequalityinequality based on race.

Different social conditions among superordinates and subordinates create behavioral differences between them.

The Social Roots of Racism

The Social Roots of Racism

Perceptions of behavioral differences get embedded in culture as racial stereotypes.

Racial stereotypes reinforce the use of physical markers to distinguish groups.

Key Questions

• What constitutes an ethnic group?

•  How do we define, identify and locate an ethnic group?

•  What is the significance of ethnicity in Canadian society?

Ethnic groups

• Ethnic groups can be identified by their cultural distinctiveness.

• There is general agreement that culture is the principally identifiable characteristic

Culture Defined

1. Systems of ideals and ideas, 2. Ways of thinking 3. Plans or recipes for behaving

in any group of people, 4. Passed down from generation

to generation."

Minority Status

•Ethnic groups are often referred to as cultural minorities.

Minority situation

• Integration and Suicide• Durkhiem, for example, noted

that when a group is in a minority situation the elements of group life become more pronounced. =Less chance of Suicide

Cultural Bonds

• Some common bonds that unify ethnic groups include:

• Language, religion, folkways and mores, styles of dress, foods,occupational specialization, social values, aesthetic standards

Theodorson and Theodorson

1975• Modern Dictionary of Sociology

define ethnicity as a group with-• 1. A common culture• 2. A sense of identity which exists

as a sub- group in a larger society.•   3. Differential of cultural

characteristics from members of the host society.

•  

What is an ethnic identity

• A.     An ethnic group shares a common ancestry

• B.      An ethnic group shares common norms, values and traditions (insiders)

• C.      An ethnic group is considered to be a group by those who do not share the first two elements (outsiders)

Heterogenious/Homogenious Contexts

•Ethnicity then becomes more significant in North America than Europe. Why?   

•Because in Europe, ethnicity is usually not a sub-group of the larger society.

•Nation and ethnicity are less differentiated in a culturally homogeneous societies.

•Ie. French in France, Italian in Italy 

Prejudice

Prejudice refers to an unsubstantiated negative prejudgement of individuals or groups because of their ETHNICITY, race or RELIGION

Discrimination

• Discrimination is the exclusion of individuals or groups from full participation in society because of their ethnicity, race or religion

• Prejudice (an attitude) and discrimination (behaviour) are usually linked, but they are distinct phenomena.

Forms of Discrimination in Canada

 

Overt, Structural and Covert

1. Blatant or Overt-

•  • To arbitrarily deny opportunities

to members of ethnic groups whose qualifications are equal to members of the dominant group.

2. Structural Discrimination

• The impersonal `perhaps’ unintentional operation of the Canadian social system.

• Unequal reward and opportunities

 3. Legislative discrimination

• -Phased out after WW2 I.e Internment camps

• Yet until mid 1960's, some of Canadian immigration laws were racist.

• E.g. policies regarding aboriginal peoples have historically been paternalistic.

4. Cultural Discrimination -

•Operates through the expectations of the dominant culture and its attempts at conformity in public life. 

Cultural Discrimination

•Those groups whose attributes (symbols, artificates, cultural practices) that deviate most markedly from the dominant group are the most severely discriminated against

Cultural Discrimination

• Ethnic groups that approximate the dominant ethno-cultural model in appearance, religion, lifestyle symbols etc. the more open and accessible are the institutions of society.

Myths About Immigrants

• Taking over the country• Uneducated• Stealing Jobs• Uncultured• Not to be trusted 

South/Asians Toronto

• -Immigrants from South/Asia are taking over the country.

• -people from Asia -East Indian, Pakistan, China, Korea ect. are overrunning the country pretty soon there will be no white folk.

•  Xenophobia

Xenophobia

• Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign people.

• The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of

foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself.

Myths

•-Immigrants are uneducated- NO- immigrants are more likely than non-immigrants to have a university education.

Daniel Bell 1975

• Canada is one and at same time:

1. Uni-cultural

2. Bi-cultural

3. Multicultural

Canada

• Multidimensional in terms of ethnic patterns:

• Uni-cultural-British, Anglo Saxon Dominance 1763

• Bicultural-French and English Charter groups 1963-1968

• Multicultural-since 1972 Official..

Canadian Uniculturalism

• Canada was never a melting pot: Anglo Dominance combined with racism and nativism.

•Postwar immigration, however, went far to change this.

BR and Fr. Origins

• Of this population of about 22.4 million, nearly one-half (46%), or about 10.3 million, reported only British Isles, French and/or Canadian ethnic or cultural origins.

British ancestry.

• The largest proportion - 21% of the total population aged 15 years and older - was comprised of those of only British ancestry.

Other Europeans.

• The next largest proportion of Canada's population was comprised of the descendants of other Europeans.

• About 4.3 million people, or about one-fifth (19%) of those aged 15 and over, had only European ancestry (other than British and French origins).

Non-European descent

• People of non-European descent accounted for 13% of the population aged 15 and over, or 2.9 million.

Mixed ethnic heritages

• In addition, 22% of the population aged 15 and over, or 4.9 million, reported other mixed ethnic heritages, or did not know their ethnic ancestry.

Canada Ethnic History in Brief

• Contact 1608-1763

• 350,000 Natives vs. 5000 Europeans

• Wilderness, Fur Trade

• Champlain, ie. Penetang

• Some trade, much claiming

Pre-ConfederationTwo Solitudes

• Plains of Abraham

• La Survivance

• Upper Canada 55% English and 35% French. Lower Canada 85% French 15% English.

Post-Confederation/Western Settlement

• 1867-1939

• Anglo-centric Orange Order predominant.

• Influx of Russian, Ukranian, Chinese

• Chinese, Italian, Jewish in urban centers

• prejudice and discrimination

Post World War Two

• Restrictions lifted• More Italian, Jewish, Greek, Northern

European• Italians 731,000, Germans 1.3 million,

385,000 Scand.• Diversity in Population/Conformity and

Assimilation gov’t policy

Establishing the Mosaic

• 1960’s

• Introduction of the Points System

• Immigration less Anglo-centric

• Bi & Bi Commission, Multicultural Official in 1972.

Refocusing current

• Refocusing the Cultural Mosaic

• Three levels of immigration -points, family reunification, refugee status

• Increasing numbers of visible minorities South Asia, Caribbean and Asia

• 250,000 immigrants per year

Immigration

• Immigration is an important way of attempting to understand majority/minority relations in a country.

Anthony Richmond

• Enhanced by the increasing amount of immigrants since WW2 (Richmond,1982)

• Canada has been described as a salad bowl

• Immigrants are working hard to carve out their place...

 

Acculturation not assimilation

• .To adjust to Canada's two dominate groups. French and English.

• These groups serve as reference groups to many immigrant groups.

Assimilation and Acculturation

• The two ends of the continuum of what happens to ethnic groups are:  

1. . Assimilation

2. Acculturation

3 ... Maintenance of group identity and cohesion within the larger society. (ethnic ghetto) 

Vertical Mosaic

• John Porter (1965) -Uniculturalism

• A controversial thesis-Canada’s emphasis on cultural pluralism hinders minority groups

• Creates `ethnic ghetto cultures’ restricting mobility…

• A functionalist thesis…

Revisionists

• Include Peter S. Li

• Gordon Darroch

• Ethnic communities carve out their own occupational avenues for success.

• Canada is primarily a class society-Marxist thesis.

Subtle discrimination

• Examples of this subtle discrimination included being passed over for promotion, assigned unpleasant tasks, being stereotyped, and being excluded from the "inner circle" of the workplace

Evelyn Kallen (1974)

• KALLEN, Evelyn and KELNER, Merrijoy. 1983. Ethnicity, Opportunity ..... “Toronto: Polite Racism and Marshmallow Politics,” Currents: Readings in Race ...

Polite Racism

• Visible minority men and women still face "polite" racism when job hunting.

Covert Racism

• Racism is more covert today- US and Canada.

• Focus group participants said that racism is a "hidden thing" in the workplace, and many were convinced that they had been victims of subtle forms of racism.

Subtle discrimination

• Examples included:

1. Passed over for promotion,

2. Assigned unpleasant tasks,

3. Being stereotyped,

4. Being excluded from the "inner circle" of the workplace

Polite racists.

• They maintain a number of fixed ideas about people, usually based on some insufficient or erroneous information such as Asians are passive, Chinese are bad drivers, Jews are Greedy, Native people are lazy.

Polite racists. (Kallen, 1974)

• A study conducted in 1978 showed that people are 16 somewhat racist and 33 percent somewhat racist. 51 percent of management in 199 large companies (N=50) held negative views of people of colour. (Henry and Ginsberg, 1978)

Trudeau claimed in 1971

Although there are two official

languages, there is no official culture."

• Since 1971, 200 million dollars has been spent promoting multicultural ideals, social integration and racial harmony

Trudeau Quote

• "There cannot be one policy for Canadians of British origin or French origins, another for originals and yet a third for all others.” (1971)

R.C.B.B. 1963-1969

• The Royal Commission on Bi-lingualism and Bi-culturalism revealed the growth of a new current in Canada by the `other Canadians'.

•  Multicultural Act-an afterthought?

Visible minority men and women still face "polite"

racism when job hunting. One focus group participant said:

"I've called about jobs and had people say 'come down for an

interview,' yet when I get there, I get the feeling they are surprised to see that I'm black

because I sound like the average guy on the telephone. They've said 'Oh, the job has just been filled,' or during the interview they'll say that I'm

overqualified or ask me questions like 'Are you sure you want to work at this type

of job?' Ethnic Origin In Canada

1991

•  • Ethnic Origin Total Responses Percentage Canadian 8,806,275 30.9%• English 6,832,095 23.9%• French 5,597,845 19.6%• Scottish 4,260,840 14.9%• Irish 4,260, 840 13.2%• German 2,757,140 9.7%•  Iitalian 1,207,475 4.2%•  Aboriginal 1,101,955 3.9%• Ukrainian 1,026,475 3.6%•  Chinese 921,585 3.2%•  Dutch 916,215 3.2%•  Polish 786,735 2.8%•  South Asian 723,345 2.5% Jewish 351,705 1.2•  Jamaican 188,770 0.7

Assimilation vs. Cultural Distinctiveness

• The two ends of the continuum of what happens to ethnic groups are:

•  • 1. Assimilation•  • 2. Maintenance of group identity and cohesion

within the • larger society.•  •  

The cultural pluralist

• Today we will look at some theoretical concepts that relate to the struggle of cultural pluralism

• Many immigrants who favour maintenance of their own identity have no desire to adopt the lifestyle of the host country.

•  

Reference Groups-assimilation vs. distinctiveness

• Very often they view the host country in terms of expediency and look forward to making money and going home.

• With these groups, the reference group is drawn from their own ethnic history and not from the dominant culture.

• Immigrant groups who favour assimilation, on the other hand, look to the host or dominant culture as reference groups.

Minorities in Transition

• The culture of a minority group in transition is referred to as a hybrid culture.

•  

• Containing norms that are traditional as well as some values of the dominant culture.

Canadian Family

• The Canadian Family in an Urban Setting

•  • Elkin (1964) suggests that there is not one

Canadian Family. • It is too heterogeneous, with its diverse

ethnic religious and occupational groupings.•   

Italian Family

• In Italy, the family is a source of moral authority and community values.

• A person's worth is determined by his/her ability to promote the economic prosperity of the family and to preserve the chastity of women in the family.

•  

 Italian Canadians in Toronto

• The first handful arrived in the 1880's and 1890's settling in the Ward area bounded by Young and University college and Queen they lived in ramschackled housing. 

• They were often a transient group working for the railway or mining in Ontario bush.

Formative Stage

• Numbers grew as they formed networks for incoming Italians to pass on information about housing, and financial aid in case of sickness and death.

Population-

• The numbers were about 14,000 in 1913.

•  

Maintenance Stage

• During the Second World War about 500 were rounded up and interned in Toronto. Times were very difficult for the Italian community until following the war when the "enemy alien" designation had been lifted in 1947.

• Throughout the Second World War many Italians were inturned and lost their posessions.

 

• In the 1950's the Italian community began to grow such that protests by unionists, politicians and the general public were made to stem the tide of immigration.

•  • Through the 1960's the Italian community

was largely responsible for building the infra-structure of Toronto.

• As a result, the group has moved northward to suburbs like North York. The star claims that " more recent neighbourhoods of choice in bedroom communities like Woodbridge "symbolize a collective distancing from there humble beginnings".

•  

Italians Now Urban

• The majority of Italian Canadians are found in urban centres like Toronto and Montreal. The small number of works on Italians are contradictory.

•  • On the one hand, Jansen(1971) found that Italian

immigrants in Toronto were ocupationally, residentially and linguistically segregated and had minumal contacts beyond their primary groups.

• Similar patterns were reported by Boissevain (1976)

Socialization

• The contradictions may be partly the product of differential socialization practices between Italian males and females.

• There "stricter, more protective practices towards females."•  • It is also reported that first generation Italians have

unrealistically high expectations for their children which often leads to conflict.  

• Sturino reports that gradually Italians will see a blending of old and new family patterns.

•  

Familiaria

• "At three levels of kinship of nuclear family, family circle, and kindred, elements from a peasant past were merged with an urban present. The kinship patterns can neither be referred to as Canadian nor Italian".

•  • Sturino sees the emergence of an entirely new family

form which represents a departure from concepts used to describe some other ethnic groups like stability and change.

Institutional Completeness

• The circumstances for Italians in Montreal have been very different from those of the Jewish community. • Large scale immigration for Italians took place following WW2.•  • Second only to British as a minority in the province.• Despite some institutional completeness there has been some question of the cohesiveness of Italians in that city.•  • Scholars like Clifford Jansen and Bossovian have found that Italians are "individualistic members of some future Italian community" They are

unwilling to participate in or contribute financially towards community organizations.•  •  • Italians are a distinctive community but they are not held together through formal organization.•  • Italians focus their ethnicity on kinship, neighbourhood, work and residence.•  • Because of this focus there is more chance for intergroup conflicts among Italians.•  • Notably absent from the Italian community are voluntary associations aimed at immigrant adjustment.•  • Just as the Jewish organizational style tends towards formal institutions the Italian is informal.•  • As a result, Italians have not developed parallel institutions in Quebec and are relatively well represented in the Quebec public sector and political

parties to ensure the needs of their group are met.•  •  

• Ukrainian Canadians•  •  • Hobart examined attitudes towards family size, marital roles, and childbearing among a sample of three generations in Edmonton and surrounding rural communties.•  • The pattern of the first generation closely reflects the native country while the third generation closely approximates the ideal typical English-Canadian family; small in size, maternal employment, egalitarianism in marital and parent/child relationships, values supportive of divorce and intermarriage and weak kinship orientations.•  •  • However, since concrete data on first generation Ukranians is scarce, intergenerational comparisons are problematic and speculative.•  • Ukrainians-A Third Force•  • -Paul Yuzyk in 1964 in his maiden speech to the Canadian Senate spoke of the emergence of a third force in Canadian society.•  • -the third force he was referring to was the other minority groups that were emerging in Canada.•  • -the Royal Commission on Bi-lingualism and Bi-culturalism revealed the growth of a new current in Canada by the `other Canadians'.•  • -Canada by the 1960's, was becoming a multi-cultural society.•  • -One of the main protest groups were the Ukrainians. Many of whom were second or third generation Canadian.•  • _ Immigration to Canada by Ukrainians occurred between 1891 & 1914.•  •  • -Ukrainians were farmers who supplemented their income by working on the railroad.•  • -Very few of these immigrants settled in the cities and towns of eastern Canada.•  • -the second wave of Ukrainians came in the 1920's, after a long struggle for independence in their homeland. •  • -the second wave was comprised of journalists, teachers and other professional who helped to develop a strong ethnic community.•  •  • Institutional Completeness•  •  • It is argued that "the direction of the immigrants integration will to a large extent be determined by the individual's absorbtion into their larger ethnic community. The less institutionally complete an ethnic group, the less likely the member will retain his ethnic identity.•  •  • What is Institutional Completeness?•  •  • Refers to the extent to which an ethnic community develops religious, political, educational, recreational and national institutions for its ethnic community.•  • Although all ethnic groups begin as informal groupings, only certain ones move beyond the informal network to develop a formal structure.•  • If a group develops such things as mutual aid societies, welfare, and recreation centres then the individual members are more likely to cling strongly to the group.•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  • Toronto Jewry•  •  • An ethno-religious community. Provided the Jewish population of Toronto with institutional completeness.•  • One such organization was the Hebrew Benevolent Society which taught Jewish immigrants "language, customs and economic relationships".•  •  • Another was the Dorcas Society, which was a cooperative that provided food, shelter and clothing to the poor.•  •  • Rosenberg shows that religion provided security to Toronto Jewry during the WW2. It provided avenues for upward mobility when all others were closed. (ie the young men's Hebrew Association)•  •  • Kallen, an expert on the Jewish community claims that as the group has grown more comfortable with its surroundings, religion is emphasized less strongly.•  • Judaism is now more strongly emphasized in national terms rather than in religious terms.•  • Many Jews only attend synagogue on the Sabbath.•  • The changing Jewish community in Toronto and Canada was studied extensively at a symposium at York University in 1982..•  • It was entitled "The Changing Jewish Community: A Symposium on Current Research"•  •  • The census data show that Jewish Canadians are concentrated in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg. They have the lowest fertility and the highest incomes of any group in Canada. They are highly educated and are primarily in professional, managerial and technical occupations.(Stats Can. 1981)•  • Accounts of the Jewish community have largley been restricted to excellent literarary works like Duddy Kravitz and St. Urbaines horsemen.•  • One study by Kallen of second generation adults finds that the Jewish family in Canada carries on many of the same activities it did in the sheltl and serves as the focal point for extended family relations and the preservation of a communal Jewish identity.•  • The dominant familial characteristics include: an egalitatian marital ideology superimposed upon a sexual division of labour in the domestic and occupational spheres, permissive love based child rearing patterns aimed at inculcating a high need for achievement and a concentration upon nuclear family at the expense of extended kinship.•  •  • Kallen also reports a shift from religiousity to a more ethnic collective consciousness combined with a strong identification with the state of Isreal among the younger generation.•  • In sum the Jewish comunity contains a combination of tradtional and modern characteristics which have been instrumental in the survival of the group.•  •  • The Chinese Canadian Family•  • The first wave came as part of the Gold rush. Upon discovery of no gold many work for the railway or made their way east.•  • The Chinese who made their way easy found their way into a few business areas such as groceries, laundries ect.•  • Many experienced islolation by policies like preferred and non preferred until 1962. (Richmond,1977) •  • The Chinese marital status differs significantly from the larger Canadian population.•  • The myth that Chinese have large families is not supported by empirical evidence. The fertility rate among Chinese Canadian females is lower than their Canadian counterparts. •  • The data clearly show that Chinese Canadians has significantly higher levels of education than there Canadian counterparts.•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  • The Canadian Family• The Canadian family is not a homogenious entity. It has numerous types and varieties.•  • The family preserves what Leo Dreiger describes as the Canadian ethnic mosaic.•  • Peter Chimos shows how the Greek Canadian family is structured around the values of kinship and ethnicity. •  • The family then performs the function through socialization of maintaining the ethno cultural identity and cultural continuity between the homeland and the immigrant group.•  • Today in Canada ethnic groups are poltical units which cannot be ignored. •  •  • The struggle between Anglo conformity vs. multiculturalism.• The use of the term post modernism - challenges the view the modern is progressive. Rooted in anthropology -notion that modern man has a great deal to learn from others. Some take it as far as to say that history is cyclical

Myths• -Immigrants come over and sap the welfare system. NOT. Immigrants are only slightly less likely to participate in the labour force 76.4 compared to 77.7%.• -However, among young people-able bodied-immigrants had a higher labour force participation rate at 95.3% compared to 94.8 among non-immigrants.•  Immigrant men earn more than non-immigrant men although the same is not true for women.•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  • Lecture # 5: Canadian Immigration Policy•  •  • Immigration is an important way of attempting to understand majority/minority relations in a country.•  • Herberg distinguishes seven periods in Canadian immigration.•  • 1. 1850-1880-steady but low immigration.•  • 2. 1880-1890- an abrupt rise 50,000/year.•  • 3. 1890's -low levels cause by economic depression.•  • 4. 1910 -1913- Laurier & improved ecomonic condition 3 million.•  • 5. 1913 -late 20's- decline caused by WW1•  • 6 1930's -zero immigration caused by depression.•  • 7. 1945-70,000/per year ever to present.•  •  • Richmond focuses upon immigration policy in that post WW2 era.•  • The Immigration Act of 1952 was the framework through which immigration policies have been administered for the past 25 years.•  • Between 1951 and 1961 -25.5% of the growth in population was due to net migration.•  • This fell to 21.7 between 1961 -1971. •  • Richmond notes that although there was no official policy, until 1962 there was a strong tendency to favour European Immigrants, particularly from the more northern parts of Europe southern Europeans were less favoured like those of Asian, East Indian backgrounds.• For example, Greeks, Italians and Portuguese made up only 3% of immigrants in the pre-war/depression decades, but by the late 1950's and 1960's this had increased to almost 20%.•  •  • Changes to immigration policy were solidified by Immigration Act of 1967.•  • This act was implemented following a white paper on immigration in 1966.•  • The act was characterized by a points system of admissibility.•  •  • Emphasis was placed upon educational and occupational factors but also took into account age, knowledge of French or English, and relatives who might assist the immigrant in getting established.•  • Thus, in 1967, numbers of immigrants from Europe was declining and there were significant increases in those from China, East India and Pakistan and from the West Indies and Caribbean.•  • The 1970's saw Asians comprise one third of all immigrants-including a new group-the Vietnamese.•  • The 1980's saw increasing numbers of people coming to Canada from all parts of the globe.•  • Central and South Americans, Lebanese and Filipino represented one eight of all immigrants in that decade.•  • The 1975 Green Paper- contributed to our current outlook upon immigration. •  • It recommended the following:•  • 1. Continue to admit 100,000 annually in order to stabilize population cause by declining birthrates. By 1975, the birthrate in Canada stood below 2 at 1.98 compared to 3.51 between 1961-66.•  • Below 2 means population levels decreasing.•  • 2. Immigrants should be admitted on a first come first serve basis with no regional quotas.•  • 3. Also recommended that Canada admit refuges above quotas in situations of international crisis.•  • 4. Should reduce employment visas and only issue them for genuine short term assignments where Canadians are unavailable.• 5. No restriction upon immigration from the third world.• Continue to favour multiculturalism.•  • 6. Abolition of a nominated class of immigrants- those relatives not dependant upon Canadian sponsors.•  • It was held that a nominated class had "undue preference" over other immigrants seeking to enter Canada.•  • 7. Improve points system-points should be improved for education and occupational skills- also should favour those immigrants who will settle in areas where population growth is desired.•  • 8. Improve services designed to aid the adjustment of immigrants.• ie. government support for voluntary agencies designed to assist immigrants within the various ethnic communities.•  •  • Sequel, 1972-1986•  •  • The ideas and concepts of the 1975 Green Paper were integrated in the Immigration Act of 1976.•  •  • Immigratiom Act 1976- a system that involves the provinces in the immigration policy process.•  • 1. Implemented point system. System has been revised from time to time-1978 and 1986.•  •  • 2. Act attempts to achieve a better balance between family reunion, humanitarianism and economics than the 1967 system.•  •  • 3. Every effort is made to involve the provinces in Canada's demographic needs.•  • Quebec •  • Up to 1967 when Quebec first began seeking control over immigration, federal government was in total control of immigration.•  • This was the case despite the fact that the provinces were given shared status with the federal government over immigration.•  • In 1971, Quebec developed the Lang-Cloutier agreement to permit Quebec's immigration councilors to work overseas to help select immigrants for the province of Quebec.•  • This resulted in the Cullen-Couture agreement Quebec has joint responsiblity in the selection of immigrants.•  • Both the Meech Lake Accord and Charlettown were to give Quebec joint responsibity.•  •  • Ontario•  •  • 56% of newcomers live in the greater Toronto area.•  • There are now 85 different ethno-cultural groups in Ontario.• As of 1988, no agreement had been worked out between Ontario and the federal government. Ontario views immigration is a federal concern.• It is assumed that if immgration remains a federal responsibility the feds will be responsible for the establishment of immigrants.•  •  • Summary•  • Canada has always been a nation of immigrants. Although prior to WW2 Canada was predominantly from British and northern Europe these people were also immigrants.•  • Since 1960's, immigration has brought about what Herberg calls "a rainbow of immigrants".•  • This process has made Canada much more richly diverse in ethnic origin, race and religion.•  • This pattern of immigration is likely to continue in the near future.•  • Although recently controversy has erupted over immigration policy over refugees, crime ect. It is unlikely immigration policy will change that dramatically given Canada's declining birthrate.•  •  • Multiculturalism: Policy, Perspectives, Problems and Prospects•  •  • Multiculturalism as Policy- consists of government initiatives to transform multicultural ideals into practice at the level of programmes and funding.• Multiculturalism as we have seen is only one of the policy options open to central authorities for coping with ethnic diversity. It is the most open-minded approach.•  •  • Early Policies (1971-1981)•  •  • Pre war governments did not address the issue in any systematic way.•  • The Canadian government at that time preached the vitues of assimilation and Anglo conformity.•  • However, gradually the influx of immigrants beginning in the mid 1940's gradually began to undermine national definitions.(Hawkins,1989)•  • These changes resulted in a rethinking of the character of Canadian society and the place of `other ethnics' within it.•  • Pressure to create a new symbolic order was further heighten by French Canadian nationalism and can still be felt in 1992 with the issue of the constitution.•  • The first step in this process of change was the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1969.•  • Although the commission was appointed intially to develop recommendations on the partnership between French and English Canada in confederation, the report ultimately addressed the postwar transformation of Canada to a pluralistic nation.•  • Trudeau claimed in 1971•  •  • "There cannot be one policy for Canadians of British origin or French origins, another for originals and yet a third for all others. For although there are two official languages, there is no official culture."•  • Since 1971, 200 million dollars has been spent promoting multiculural ideals, social integration and racial harmony.•  • In 1972, for example, a separate directorate with the Department of the Secretary of State was established.•  • This was followed by the creation of the Ministry of Multiculturalism to monitor government departments in: •  • A. consolidating human rights, • B. strengthening Canadian identity• C. preventing discrimination• D. fostering citizen involvement• E. reinforcing national unity• F. promoting cultural diversity•  •  • This has led to the development of a federal Department of Multiculturalism and Citizenship in May 1990.•  • Other councils established include the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism in 1973 and the Canadian Ethnocultural council in 1983. •  • Furthermore most provinces have embraced the multicultural initiative.•  • Saskatchewan was the first province to become officially multicultural in 1974 by creating its own Multicultural Council and Multicultural Directorate.•  • Ontario instituted a multicultural advisory council in 1973 to advise the government on multicultural matters.•  • But in 1977, Ontario endorsed an official commitment to multiculturalism.•  •  •  •  •  •  • Bill Davis proclaimed in 1977:•  • "This government is committed to work towards equal treatment of all residents of (Ontario)... Government must take all steps to ensure that no one is denied access to services...We believe that it is essential that cultural differences do not impede access to government services".•  • The most recent piece of legislation in Canada is the Multiculturalism Act passed on July 16, 1988.•  • This act made Canada the first nation in the world to formally endow multiculturalism with full legal authority in the nation.•  • However, this has not developed without controversy. For example, Quebec seems less ready to embrace the multicultural model in comparison to English Canada.• The question arises Will Multicultural rights be subordinate to Quebec's collective right for survival as a distinct society?•  •  • Bill 101 seems to suggest that it will.•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  

 Visible minority men and women still face "polite"

racism when job hunting. One focus group participant said:

"I've called about jobs and had people say 'come down for an

interview,' yet when I get there, I get the feeling they are surprised to see that I'm black

because I sound like the average guy on the telephone. They've said 'Oh, the job has just been filled,' or during the interview they'll say that I'm

overqualified or ask me questions like 'Are you sure you want to work at this type

of job?' Ethnic Origin In Canada

1991

•  • Ethnic Origin Total Responses Percentage Canadian 8,806,275 30.9%• English 6,832,095 23.9%• French 5,597,845 19.6%• Scottish 4,260,840 14.9%• Irish 4,260, 840 13.2%• German 2,757,140 9.7%•  Iitalian 1,207,475 4.2%•  Aboriginal 1,101,955 3.9%• Ukrainian 1,026,475 3.6%•  Chinese 921,585 3.2%•  Dutch 916,215 3.2%•  Polish 786,735 2.8%•  South Asian 723,345 2.5% Jewish 351,705 1.2•  Jamaican 188,770 0.7